When people go to the beach, they often carry beach towels with them. Despite the name "towel," many beach towels are not used for toweling, but are used as a mat to lie on the sand. When positioned, the person sits or lies on the beach towel, and the towel substantially protects him against the sand. One of the problems is that, when a towel lies on the sand in that manner, the wind tends to lift it and fold it or blow it away. Another problem is that such a beach towel closely follows the contour of the sand and does not provide a head rest. In addition, prior beach towels did not provide pockets which can be used for the storage of various items. Accordingly, there is need for a beach towel which provides storage space and which provides pockets which can receive sand to weight the beach towel in place.